


We've Come Too Far

by orphan_account



Series: When Our Worlds Collide [1]
Category: DCU (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crossover, I'm not gonna tag crack but don't get mad if it's terrible ok, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-17 17:55:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5880217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This really isn’t the same universe, Br- Batman. I’m pretty sure no one here’s heard of us.”</p>
<p>“I think if I’d heard of someone named Batman I’d remember it,” Bucky says, snorting. The man in the cowl glares harder.</p>
<p>“To be fair,” Carol speaks up as she enters the room, “We <em>are</em> on a team with Iron Man and Ant Man.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	We've Come Too Far

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Get Lucky by Daft Punk because I literally couldn't think of anything else.
> 
> I'm sorry to all the people who saw this in the tags for the minor ships and thought they'd be more present here, but I wanted people to be aware of what a poly mess this is. I want you to know what you're getting into.
> 
> I really wish I could've posted, like, a few femslash fics before I started posting crossover m/m crackships -- actually I wasn't expecting to ever write a crossover m/m crackship, I have no idea where this came from.
> 
> Well, okay, no, I do, but it's not worth writing out when I've already written the fic.
> 
> The usual disclaimers so I don't get sued or something: I don't own Marvel, or DC, or any of the characters within. I'm doing this for fun, I'm not making any money, idk is there any real chance of the people who would sue over copyright finding my crackfic for a pairing no one probably ships anyway? Un-beta'd, also, my mistakes are my own, and I know very little about the DC universe actually so I'm sorry if I get someone really ooc or something? I mean, man, for someone writing a 4k+ of a ship involving superman, I really don't know much about superman.

They’ve learned a lot more about soulmates since the forties, they tell him. Which is good, because when he finally remembers himself enough to recognize his own goddamn face in the mirror, he has new marks.

He’s not totally ignorant; even back then they still had reasonable understanding of enough to get by. You get the marks the moment both you and your soulmate are in the world together, to begin with, and they fade when one of you leaves. That seems to be the only concrete part, though, as everything else varies from one person to the next. The actual mark, for one; some people have the first words their soulmate says to them, others have their soulmate’s name. Others still, like Bucky, have strange designs that belong to their soulmates, and won’t know they’ve met their soulmate until they both get a good look at the marks themselves, since neither knows what their mark looks like until they see it on someone else.

Apparently, multiple soulmates are an acknowledged thing now, which is one of the new bits, and a thing he’s grateful to hear. Generally speaking, within any group of more than two soulmates the marks present in the same way -- he knows Pepper, Rhodey and Tony all have each others names on their wrists, for one example. It’s not _always_ the case, which he finds out for the first time when they’re watching some ridiculous movie about a girl with four different kinds of soulmarks scattered about her body.

At any rate, he’s a bit less freaked out about the purple crescent in the shell of his left ear and the red hourglass on his right wrist when they explain the whole multiple soulmates thing.

He’s not really surprised to learn that the hourglass is Natasha’s. She’s straightforward when she first notices it, and lifts up her left sleeve to show him a series of five mostly connected points that don’t quite make a star -- the same mark he's seen on Steve. She doesn’t entirely trust him still, but he’s not surprised, and he’s not about to push.

He doesn’t figure out who the other one belongs to until a little while Barton shows up at the base. He first sees Bucky -- well, he sees Bucky’s arm -- and he freezes, and stares, and then mumbles something before leaving the room. Bucky figures he’s intimidated, or scared, or just upset with the presence of the Winter Soldier in general, so he’s a bit miffed but he doesn’t really make a big deal about it.

Barton continues like that for a while, until one night when they both apparently can’t sleep and Bucky finds him in the kitchen. He pauses for a moment, and Barton seems to not notice him until Bucky walks into his line of sight. Bucky offers a small wave, which Clint returns, and then he goes about getting a glass of water. He’d prefer milk, but when he tries to pour a glass he gets flashes of Pierce, in a way that seems ridiculous but affects him way too strongly to ignore.

He asks Barton if he can get him anything, but Clint’s just staring at the arm. Bucky repeats himself, and he finally throws up his arms when Clint says nothing the third time. Clint startles at that, and must see the annoyance on Bucky’s face, because he looks a bit -- guilty’s not quite the word, and neither is sheepish, but it doesn’t really matter, because he starts talking.

“Sorry,” Clint says, and his voice is a little louder than Bucky expected at this time of night. “I can’t hear you, I don’t have my hearing aids in.”

It takes Bucky a few seconds longer than he’d like to admit for that to process, and then he feels like a bit of a dick. “Sorry,” he says, and he wishes he knew better what to do here, but he makes sure to look Clint straight in the eye and say it clearly so he can read his lips. 

Clint seems to notice his effort, because he looks grateful, but then his gaze lists to Bucky’s left side again, and Bucky’s about to say something -- ask if he has a problem with the arm, maybe -- when Clint speaks again, a bit too loudly, “Your ear.”

He reaches out to brush his fingers against it, and Bucky feels something spark briefly in his chest. Clint seems to realize what he’s doing and pulls his arm back, but when he sits back he meets Bucky’s eyes again for a moment before pulling off his sweatshirt, revealing a white tank and five connected points on his left shoulder.

Bucky feels like he should be able to manage better than just, “Oh,” but he can’t really think of anything else to say.

 

At any rate, he gets the multiple soulmates thing, and he understands it enough now that when he feels a burning on his lower abdomen one day, he only panics for half a second before lifting his shirt and seeing the raw red skin, and panicking for an entirely different reason.

Stark laughs when he sees it. “Cradle robber,” he says, almost too quiet for Bucky to hear, but he does, and he glares at him. Tony looks a little closer, and Bucky kind of wants to shove him away before his face gets too close to his crotch, but Tony pulls back before it gets that far. Or close, rather. “Interesting placement,” He says, still breathing a bit of laughter.

When Bucky looks down again, it’s started refining itself into a triangular shape, with one point aimed straight down. Interesting placement indeed.

Which is of course, when the alarms sound throughout the tower.

“Sir, it appears Doctor Doom and Loki have opened a portal in Manhattan,” Friday says.

“Lucky we’ve decided to stay at the tower for a while,” Bucky says, but when he gets up to follow Tony out, his jeans rub against the raw skin on his stomach and he hisses. Tony pauses before he’s out of the room.

“We’ve got quite a few people here who'll be ready to go; you can sit this one out if you like,” he says, and Bucky half wants to go anyway on pride, but he doesn’t remember getting a mark being this painful before so he just nods and sits back down gingerly. “We’ll tell you all about it when we get back.”

Steve walks in, then -- or rather, he’s walking down the hall and reaches the doorway to the common area Tony and Bucky were in -- and he looks at Bucky for a moment before nodding and clapping Tony on the shoulder. They start to discuss it, and Bucky can hear Friday explaining the situation further as they walk away.

He thinks about asking Friday to keep him updated, but decides instead to watch a ridiculous lifetime movie about a girl with two soulmarks so close together she thinks they’re one.

It’s very touching, and also annoying, but Bucky’s only half paying attention. When the burning feeling on his skin finally lets up, he looks down to see -- an S. A big, red S in a weird triangle with the top corners cut off. He’s a little bewildered; the kind of marks he gets don’t generally have writing on them, so the S can’t be an S, but he doesn’t really know what else it would be.

He’s halfway through a second movie when Friday alerts him to the team’s return. He nods, and Friday seems to almost hesitate before informing him of additional company.

“Hostile?” he asks, brow furrowed. He knows it’s unlikely the team would bring an enemy prisoner to the tower, but he’s still wary. Friday confirms that the extra people coming back are friendly, and not a threat, and Bucky relaxes minutely. 

He hears the elevator doors open, and the first voice that comes out is Tony’s, saying, “So that was a portal to another universe, apparently,” and when Bucky looks up he thinks he manages not to laugh at the man beside him wearing a t-shirt and jeans and a black cowl covering most of his head. He might not be too successful at that, though, if the way the guy glares at him is anything to go by.

There are three other people Bucky doesn’t recognize, two women and another man. One of the women seems to also be in a strange amalgam of costume and plain clothing, wearing a gold tiara and wristbands with a plaid button-down shirt and jeans that are too short. She also has a sword and shield strapped to her back, and Bucky feels his eyebrows raise. The other two newcomers are dressed normally, though.

“Barnes, meet Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Batman,” Stark says, and he looks far too gleeful at the way the man in the black cowl glares at Bucky when he really fails at holding in a laugh. “These three have told me their actual names,” Stark says, waving at the two women and the plainly dressed man, “But this guy refuses to tell me who he is until we can convince him he doesn’t exist here and no one will recognize him anyway.”

The man not wearing the cowl is the first of the four to speak, then. “This really isn’t the same universe, Br- Batman. I’m pretty sure no one here’s heard of us.”

“I think if I’d heard of someone named Batman I’d remember it,” Bucky says, snorting. The man in the cowl glares harder.

“To be fair,” Carol speaks up as she enters the room, “We _are_ on a team with Iron Man and Ant Man.” She’s grinning crookedly at him, and he offers a smile and a nod.

“True enough.” He gets up, and is relieved that he feels no additional pain from his jeans rubbing against his waist, and he walks over to the team and the new people. “Bucky Barnes, good to meet you.” He offers his hand to the man who’d spoken before, and he can hardly be surprised at himself before the other takes his hand and shakes it.

“Clark Kent,” he says. “Also, Superman,” He adds a bit awkwardly, and glances over to Stark. Bucky’s watching him when Clark turns his gaze back, and he releases his hand and clears his throat a bit awkwardly.

“I’m Supergirl,” The blonde says, “Kara’s fine, though, as long as you have no idea who that is. Kara Danvers.” And Bucky really laughs at that, turning to look at Carol.

“Really?” he says, and she just shrugs. “Wow.”

He turns at looks at the other two. For Wonder Woman’s part, she looks reasonably unfazed. “Diana,” She offers.

The man in the cowl sighs and pulls it off, revealing dark hair and the face of a man who wishes he were somewhere else. Which, he probably did, considering he was pulled from his home into a world he’s completely unfamiliar with. Bucky has no idea what these people may have left behind. “Bruce Wayne,” He says, and he looks at everyone carefully before relaxing a bit when no one shows any recognition.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I could really use a shower,” Carol says.

“Didn’t you already shower when we arrived, though?” Stark says, and he’s watching her with suspicion. Carol shrugs, a sly smile on her face, and she only needs to glance at Kara once before the girl offers an agreement. 

"What's with the clothes?" Bucky asks.

"Figured it wouldn't be the best idea to have four new costumed superheroes seen traipsing around with the Avengers back to our base, so we grabbed some stuff from a store on the way." It's Tony, so when he says 'grabbed', where other people might mean 'steal' he probably means 'paid twice as much as it actually cost to make up for the inconvenience and then pretend like it didn't happen'.

Bucky shakes his head before turning around and grabbing the remote, going to turn off the TV, which has turned to commentary in the commercial breaks. Diana stops him when the hosts start to discuss how they covered up the real soul marks to paint on fake ones.

“Soul marks?” She asks.

“What about them?” Bucky replies.

“What are they?” He hears Clark ask from the door, and Bucky looks up at him before pushing his right sleeve up just enough to show them the red hourglass.

“You don’t have them where you’re from?” he asks, and both Clark and Diana shake their heads. Bruce, for his part, is watching them with his head tilted as Bucky begins to explain. He's pretty sure he doesn't know half of what they've learned in recent years, but thankfully, Tony’s still there to help.

 

A couple days after the four arrive, they’re all eating in the common area of the tower when Clark and Kara both perk up in their seats at the same time.

“Something’s wrong,” Kara says, just before the alarm starts going off.

Tony looks at the footage Friday’s streaming onto the wall, and frowns at the visual. “Crossbones,” He says, and Bucky’s standing before he realizes he’s moved.

Steve’s standing beside him with a hand on his shoulder a moment later. “You want to go, I take it?” He says, and Bucky just nods.

Tony’s chewing on his lip when Bucky looks up at him, and he glances over to Steve before speaking. “Carol can fly ahead and check things out,” He says, and it’s hesitant, almost a question, but Steve nods. Tony turns and nods at Carol, who’s wiping her mouth with a napkin and getting up already.

“I’m going with her,” Kara says, and no one bothers to argue.

 

Carol’s letting them know the situation through the comms when they get there, and Bucky’s almost tuning it out except he knows he needs to be careful here. He gets a bit of tunnel vision, though, when he finally spots Crossbones. He charges, and loses track of things until he finds Carol holding him back from Rumlow’s unconscious body.

“Hydra or not, being seen punching someone to death isn’t going to help public opinion of you,” She says, and his eyes follow her nod to a news team half a block away. He lets himself slump, and then straightens up and walks away from Rumlow, not letting himself look back. Steve catches up with him, and the Supergirl’s flying a few yards away, and --

Bucky’s eyes catch on her suit. The symbol on her chest is identical to his most recent soulmark. “That explains things,” He says, and Steve looks at him oddly but Bucky just shakes his head.

“So,” he says, when Kara gets closer. “Superman and Supergirl. Any relation?”

Kara laughs. “He’s my cousin, actually, yeah. Though the matching names didn’t really come from the family connection. Not to start with, anyway.”

 

He tries to spend more time with Kara, but where she is, Carol and Clark tend to be as well, and he doesn’t really know how to ask a being from another world if she’s his soulmate, anyway, so he doesn’t really bother. She ends up talking with Carol most of the time, and Bucky finds himself speaking with Clark a lot.

Clark tells him where he’s from, and where he was from before that. He tells him about Metropolis, and about the parents that raised him. “Kal-el,” He replies, when Bucky asks if his alien parents named him something different or if the world of super-beings he hailed from just had entirely human names.

Clark laughs at something Bucky’s said, one day, and it’s a nice laugh, Bucky finds himself noticing, and, _oh no_.

 

Bucky isn’t really sure what the protocol is when you walk in on people making out in a public area, but standing frozen in the doorway and staring probably isn’t the most polite thing to do.

Kara’s on Carol’s lap, and Carol’s arms are wrapped around her waist. Kara’s wearing a sleeveless shirt, and for some reason the first thing that actually registers to Bucky is how blank her left shoulder is, and he feels some unspeakable relief. He then feels incredibly awkward, and he clears his throat lightly, shifting on his feet and looking away from them when they break apart and look up. When he looks back, Kara’s got a flush across her face, and Carol’s smiling crookedly.

“This is new,” He says, and he raises his eyebrows, because seriously, these people have only been here a few weeks, this is a bit _fast_ , and he tries not to think about Clark, and then wants to hit himself for even thinking about trying not to think about him, because it really defeats the purpose of the denial when you acknowledge there’s something to deny.

Kara moves to the side, off Carol’s lap, and Carol shifts so Bucky can see her better before pulling her shirt low enough to show her collarbone. There are words there, and Bucky doesn’t really get a chance to read them before Carol says, “They showed up about half an hour before she said them.”

“Oh,” Bucky says, and then, “I’ll just give you two some privacy, but, uh. You might want to find a more private place to begin with, next time,” And he’s cringing a tiny bit, feels incredibly awkward, but he just backs out slowly. When Carol leans over and presses her face into Kara’s neck, he thinks he’s justified in fleeing.

 

It’s a couple days after that, filled with Bucky being more confused about the new soulmark than ever, when the alarm goes off again. He’s alone in his bedroom this time, because it’s fuckass early in the morning, and he’s rubbing his face harshly as he pushes himself up in the bed. “What’s happening?”

“It appears Dr. Doom has attempted to open another portal.” Friday’s voice is still a little strange to hear from nowhere, but he’s learned to trust it, even if he’s not entirely used to it yet.

“Attempted,” He repeats, and he’s glad Friday can recognize the tone of his voice, because he doesn’t really think he’s up to clarifying that.

“We’re not entirely sure what the attempt has actually resulted in, but my readings have determined that there is not a fully functional portal opened. Mr. Stark, Thor, Kal-el and Diana are preparing to leave.” The alarm has stopped sounding, and Bucky feels guilty that he’s only noticed it that moment, but he falls back into the bed. “Mr. Stark has assured me that no one else will be needed.”

“Good,” Bucky sighs, and he falls back asleep quickly.

 

Later, once he’s awake, he ends up in Tony’s lab; Stark seems to trust him more than he initially had, and offered an invitation to use anything in there if he has any issues with the arm. There’s been a slight delay in the sensors for the past couple of days, and he’s pretty sure he knows what the problem is; he’s fixed himself up on his own during long missions enough times that he can fix most of the minor problems without much help. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have fancy scans to tell him he’s right, or the proper tools to fix it.

He’s shirtless with a panel in his forearm open when Tony and Clark enter the workshop. Bucky just looks up at them briefly before returning to his arm, but his head jerks up again a second later.

Clark’s suit has the same S that Kara’s had, and Bucky’s suddenly very aware that the mark on his lower stomach is very, very visible.

Clark doesn’t seem to notice, though, just offers him a nod before continuing the discussion with Tony about the not-portal. He looks up when Bucky gets up to leave -- shirt back on, which he's grateful for -- and his eyes only catch on the star on his arm for a moment before he offers a small wave as Bucky leaves.

 

Bucky’s not really sure why he’s surprised that cousins Supergirl and Superman share the same super-symbol, but he can’t stop thinking about it, and he’s in the middle of very thoroughly destroying a punching bag when he realizes Clark’s been in the gym watching him. For how long, he can’t tell, but he tries to continue as if he hasn’t noticed -- or maybe like he’d noticed before and nothing changed. When the bag breaks off the chains, sand spraying everywhere, he realizes he’s been hitting with his metal arm a lot harder than he usually needs to in practice; there aren’t really any muscles he needs to exercise, so it’s not like it needs the practice beyond keeping form.

He pushes his hair back from his face with his right hand, and goes over to the bench he’d left his things on to grab the bottle of water he’d brought. Clark’s leaning against the wall five feet away, and Bucky tries not to be too hyper-aware of his presence.

“Does it hurt?” Clark asks, and when Bucky does look up at him, he nods at the arm.

“Not anymore,” Bucky says. “The original engineers didn’t care much for my comfort, but Tony was able to fix a lot when he got his hands on me.” Bucky flushes at that for a moment, but when he tries to look away, his eyes just end up catching on Clark’s bicep.

And he’s wearing short sleeves that still cover most of his shoulder, but Bucky can see two points just below where the sleeves end, and he feels himself inhale sharply. He looks away entirely then, staring at the wall for a moment. He takes another drink of water and a deep breath before looking back up at Clark, who’s watching him carefully, now.

Bucky feels like he should say something, or hopes Clark will say something, because something very much needs to be said here, but he’s lost for words, and Clark’s staying silent. Bucky’s quiet another moment before he finally takes a deep breath, manages to say, “Your arm,” before losing his nerve again.

Clark pushes up his sleeve, though, revealing the other three points of the not-star. “Stark laughed an awful lot the first time he saw it, and I couldn’t really figure out why,” He says. Bucky nods. “Then your friend Steve saw it, and he said I should talk to you about it.” Bucky swallows, because yeah, Steve would try to help it along, and he’d know what the mark meant, he has one on his own shoulder, he’s not going to confuse it for something else.

“Yeah, uh,” Bucky says, and he wonders why it’s this awkward this time, when he’d matched his marks to Clint and Natasha with little nerves involved. Probably because Clark doesn’t come from a world with soul marks, Bucky supposes, and he’s only had a few weeks to get used to the mark. “It’s a soulmark,” He gets out, and Clark smiles a bit.

“Do you have one?” he asks.

“I have a few,” Bucky responds, trying for humor to hide the ridiculous schoolboy nerves he _should not be having,_ _seriously_ , and waves his right wrist in the air between them.

“For me,” Clark clarifies, and okay, Bucky’s not going to be able to postpone this conversation longer, then.

Bucky chews the inside of his cheek before he turns and pulls his shirt up halfway, showing off the S, because really, there’s no other way to know than to let Clark see it himself, and based on the widening of his eyes and the recognition in them, it’s definitely his. If Bucky were even less certain than he is now, he’d probably tell himself it’s just because _it’s on Clark’s suit, it’s Superman’s symbol, it doesn't mean it's actually his mark_ until Clark actually said something about it, but as it is, he knows the mark on Clark’s arm is his, so there’s no confusion in his mind when Clark meets his eyes again.

Clark takes a step closer, and then another, and then he’s reaching out and brushing his hand against the mark. Bucky feels the same spark he always feels when either Clint or Steve brush their marks on him; Then Clark’s hand slides a bit lower, for a moment, and Bucky feels an entirely different spark. He can’t really help the way his breath punches out of him, and he lets go of his shirt to reach up and touch Clark’s arm without thinking, his palm clamping over the mark there. 

Clark’s eyes darken, and he closes them for a moment and swallows before speaking. “Can I kiss you?” He asks, and shit, okay, the pitch of his voice has dropped a bit, which is not helping Bucky breathe better, at all.

“Yeah,” He says, and Clark steps closer. He keeps his hand against the mark on Bucky’s stomach, and when he does kiss Bucky, it’s gentle, and Bucky can’t help the soft sound he makes.

Of course, that’s when the alarm goes off again. Bucky growls a bit when he pulls away from Clark, but he takes a breath and runs a hand over his face. “What’s the situation, Friday?” He asks.

“It would seem that two new cities have appeared in the state of New York,” Friday reports.

And, okay, “ _What_?”

 

Bucky’s staring out the window on the quinjet when Clark says over the comms, “That’s Metropolis.” He sounds a little awed, and Bucky is as well, frankly, because he was in this area quite recently and this city was definitely not here then. A whole goddamn city, out of nowhere.

The other city turns out to be Bruce’s Gotham, and they get a call from Rhodey on the other coast later that day, who tells them about a group of “Angry, costumed heroes” who have drawn attention and are, apparently, very surprised and confused by the big building with the A on it that came out of nowhere.

There’s a lot of really complicated science talk, then, and Bucky kind of loses track of it all. He goes to his floor in the tower, and he must fall asleep for a bit because one moment he’s watching some sort of police procedural involving dogs, and the next he’s blinking awake to a weather forecast and a knocking at the his door. He turns off the TV and walks to the door, and he’s somehow not surprised to see Clark on the other side.

“Come in,” Bucky says, and Clark does. He walks into the room, stands by the couch but doesn’t sit.

“So what they’re telling me is that our universes have fused together,” He says, and Bucky’s still a little asleep, so he can only blink at that. “Permanently,” He adds, and he looks at Bucky now, and Bucky’s still not entirely sure what’s happening.

It clicks after a moment, though, what Clark’s actually saying here. “You won’t be leaving,” Bucky says, and Clark smiles softly and nods. Bucky walks over to him, and he tries to go slow but he’s right in front of Clark sooner than he expected. He reaches up, cups Clark’s face with his hand. “Okay,” he says. “Can I kiss you?”

Clark nods, and Bucky can feel his smile when their mouths meet. “We should probably talk,” he says.

“We can talk later,” Bucky says, pulling him closer.

**Author's Note:**

> Since I didn't do the best job describing the marks, I posted some really rough pics of what I'm picturing on my tumblr [here](http://nxtalias.tumblr.com/post/138509793291/these-are-awful-and-rough-but-they-serve-the).
> 
> My tumblr is nxtalias as the link should show you, feel free to come say hi or that this was an awful idea and I'm trash and you've read it three times or something, idk.
> 
> I regret writing this tbh in a way that's not actually "I feel bad" but more "oh gods what have I created". It felt so much slower in my head, too, but when I read it seems to all happen really quick, and I'm just very annoyed that I took the time to write this, but I think I'm apparently posting it anyway, because why not, I guess?


End file.
